Sir, - In her spirited defence of the recent pay rise for TDs, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn (Opinion, March 28th) confirmed once again that the "parish pump" is alive and well and at the heart of what passes for political activity in Ireland.
It is perfectly clear that TDs who wish to be re-elected are obliged to spend an inordinate amount of time criss-crossing their constituencies, holding clinics, attending dog-fights and buying raffle tickets. As if that is not bad enough, their homes are apparently regarded as citizen's advice bureaux by their constituents.
Against this farcical background it is hardly any wonder that, every time a crisis of some kind occurs, the first thing we hear is that the law is inadequate to deal with the situation. It took the murder of Veronica Guerin to get something done to combat the activities of drug dealers and only recently I heard a Government Minister saying that the law on white-collar crime had not been updated since the middle of the last century.
To meet the changing needs of a modern society it is essential that the legislature should be proactive rather than reactive. There is no way this can happen if TDs(and indeed Ministers) have to spend their time dashing around their constituencies trying to cope with the demands of the multi-seat system.
The Programme for Government contained proposals for electoral reform which had been put forward before the election by the man who is now Minister for the Environment. One hopes that Mr Dempsey's proposals will be brought before the Oireachtas soon. - Yours, etc.,
(Mr) M. D. Kennedy
Silchester Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.